“You have to win your own individual battle and compete all over the park.

“On Wednesday we just didn’t do that. It was probably one of the most disappointing performances since I’ve been here.

“We have been letting the manager and fans down. We’ve now had a lengthy discussion and analysis.

“As players we’ve got to understand game management. When we know teams are set up a certain way we have to find a solution.

“We’ve got numerous solutions which we can go through to try and beat the press and get out and play.

“But on Wednesday we sort of abandoned it after the first one and played into Hearts’ hands. There’s a manner in which you lose and Wednesday was unacceptable. What was supposed to be a 15-minute analysis ended up as a hour-long heated debate — and rightly so.

Warburton rages on the touchline as Gers slump to 2-0 defeat against Jambos

“It has to be ironed out. At the end of the day we’ve got to put words into practice. Thankfully we have a game at the weekend to put it right.”

That game is tomorrow, against another of Rangers’ challengers for second spot — Aberdeen.

Derek McInnes’ side sit fourth, two points behind third-placed Gers with two games in hand — and defeat to the Dons would see Warburton boast a worse start to the season than Paul Le Guen ten years ago.

He has continually refused to stray from his footballing philosophy.

But Halliday said: “It didn’t matter if we were 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 on Wednesday. If you don’t play well you don’t deserve to win.

“If you’re not performing well and not competing as an individual you’re not going to win games.

“It’s as simple as that and it’s why, in my opinion, Wednesday wasn’t good enough. It’s the same system we’ve played over the past 18 months.

“The progress we’ve made has been significant, albeit there have been far too many poor results this year.

“It’s certainly nothing to do with the formation or the style of play, it’s just up to us to perform and compete on the park.

“When you look at a lot of the games where we’ve dropped points this year, fundamentally we’ve not played well.